


The Man behind the Myth: Kenshin Himura the Hitokiri Battousai

by Uncreatively_Writing



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Gen, What if Kenshin was a real historical figure?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 00:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13963641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uncreatively_Writing/pseuds/Uncreatively_Writing
Summary: A comprehensive look into the history of one of the most effective assassins of the Bakumatsu





	The Man behind the Myth: Kenshin Himura the Hitokiri Battousai

Kenshin Himura (緋村 剣心, born Shinta, June 20, 1849 – October 22, 1934) was a key figure in the Bakumatsu, known mostly by his moniker Battousai, he was an infamous Hitokiri for the Choshu Shishi.

**Early Life**

Born in the village of Himura, in the Yamashiro Province, now known as the Kyoto Prefecture. Himura’s parents where likely farmers of madder root which was traditionally sent to Kyoto to be used in the production of red dye.

His family is thought to have died in a cholera outbreak in the winter of 1858 when he was 9 years old. Existing documents state that the village sold him to passing slavers in an effort to end his curse over the village, which was brought on by the superstitious beliefs of the villagers, the reason behind this was his light hair that was an impossibility in the minds of an isolated village.

This is the last thing known of Shinta, although it is theorised that the slaver caravan was ambushed by bandits on route to Kyoto. It is unknown how Himura survived or where he went, it is during this time where he is thought to have found a sword master and been given the name Kenshin.

**The Bakumatsu and the Hitokiri**

In 1878 at the age of 28 Himura remerged under the name Kenshin and was recruited by Takasugi Shinsaku to join the Kiheitai. In a deal between Choshu leader Kido Takayoshi and Kiheitai leader Takasugi Shinsaku, where Takayoshi vowed to never draw his sword in war again and to become a true politician, Himura was treaded from the Kiheitai too become Takayoshi’s sword.

Very little is known about Himura’s time during the Bakumatsu, it is theorised that he spent a year in the shadows assassinating politicians and figures of importance on command as a true Hitokiri. It is during this time that he became known as the Hitokiri Battousai, the name deriving from his ability to kill his targets using Battojutsu, the art of drawing the sword.

After the Ikedaya Incident, Himura was reported to have gone into hiding, it is unknown where he went or what he did during this time. After coming out of hiding 5 months later it is thought that he spent the next few years working as a body guard for several high profile revolutionaries. The Ikedaya Incident also marks the end of his time in the shadows as a true Hitokiri.

Himura is thought to have returned five months after the Ikedaya Incident but what he did is still mostly unknown during this time. Although this was when Battousai rumours truly spread around and become popular and where cemented into the public’s knowledge, most about his cross shaped scar. After his return, reports state that Himura worked mainly as back up in several attacks and as a guard for important figures and dignitaries, such as Kido Takayoshi and Okubo Toshimichi. On January 31st 1868 Himura disappeared from the battle fields of Toba-Fushimi. A famous ink painting from this time pictures a set of daisho, thought to be Himura’s, left abandoned sticking out of a mound of dead Bakufu in the centre of the field. This, as well as his disappearance, have been seen to be a sign of the end of Himura’s involvement in the war.

**After the Bakumatsu and Arrival in Tokyo**

Knowledge of Himura during the ten years after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi becomes mainly unknown. A few rumours of a travelling swordsman with red hair surface over the years but nothing of high importance or reliability. Due to this, it is theorised that he travelled Japan. Mainly though small villages and roads less travelled, skipping major cities such as Osaka and Tokyo.

Tokyo newspapers and police reports from the spring of 1878 state that there were rumours of a man claiming to be Battousai. In the end, the man claiming to be Battousai was named as Gohei Hiruma and was stopped by an unnamed civilian, simply referred to as Rurouni (Derived from the word Ronin, meaning wonderer), thought to have been Himura. This is the first officially recorded sighting of Himura since the Battle of Toba-Fushimi 10 years earlier.

Records of Himura over the next two years put him primarily in Tokyo, it has been speculated that he returned to Kyoto in late 1878 to assist the Government in taking down his successor and fellow Hitokiri, Shishio Makoto. Official Government reports of this are vague but it is thought that Himura fought Makoto on Mount Hiei, Makoto later died of complications from an existing condition.

**Later Life & Death**

Few records exist after his return to Tokyo but it is known that he married the young owner of the Dojo he boarded at and started a family. He was also known to have helped the Government and local police on smaller matters over the next few years of his life.

A surviving memoir of an old friend, Megumi Sanosuke, states that he was never the same after the death of the ‘Tanuki’, thought to be a reference to Himura’s wife, in 1924. In a different memoir, that of Sanosuke’s Daughter, it records notes of Himura’s degrading health and eventual death, in 1934 at the age of 85, of natural causes.

**Etymology**

The title that Himura is most known for was Hitokiri Battousai; Hitokiri literally translating to manslayer or mancutter, Battousai derives from Battōjutsu, the art of drawing the sword and ‘sai’ meaning master or lord, so lit. Battōjutsu Master.

The name Kenshin was thought to have been given to him by his sword master at some stage during the missing years between slavery and the Bakumatsu that was most likely spent training. Kenshin is thought to have been written as ‘heart of the sword’. It is thought that his birth name Shinta provided the base for Kenshin after thinking that Shinta was too soft of a name for a swordsman, Shinta translating to soft or big heart.

Himura, written as red village, was the name of his home village. Himura was not a name associated with him until the Bakumatsu, so it is thought that he picked it to fit in with the samurai that he worked with mainly due to the fact that peasants didn’t have family names unlike that of the aristocracy and samurai classes.

**Sword Style**

Himura’s sword style and teachings are about as mysterious as the man himself. It is thought that he found himself a master in the gap between slavery and the Bakumatsu, either through his own merit or by masquerading as the young son of a Ronin. Reports written of his exploits say that he often named his attacks as he performed them, always shouting ‘Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū’, although no records or references have ever been found it is believed to have been the name of his sword style.

Himura was said to have moved astoundingly fast and make impossible leaps, so it is thought that Hiten Mitsurugi was an agility and speed based style that took years of practice and training to even become competent with it. The only recorded style was in any way similar to what was described of Himura’s sword style was that of Shiranui-ryū.

During his later years it is recorded that he refused to kill and instead used a reversed bladed sword, a Sakabato, so he could not cut. Although recent studies suggest that a sword with a blade on the wrong side could still kill, crushing instead of cutting, especially with his perceived power. So it is thought that Himura would have exercised a lot of restraint and control to be able to get away with not killing anyone. Although it is unknown if he ever did kill despite his vow or made it the rest of his life without anyone dying by his hand.

There are no records or stories behind Himura’s master or who he was, so it is unknown whether Himura was even a master of his style or if he ever even completed his training. Some historians think that no one could have been that good and not have ever mastered their chosen style while others think that Himura could not have completed his training in the few years that he spent under his master’s tutelage and simply left before he finished.

**Family**

Himura’s early family, when he was still called Shinta, is for the most part unknown, all that is known is that they died of cholera when he was young. Although no records exist, they were most likely farmers going back generations, no known person of importance is recorded to have existed from his family.

Himura was known to have ‘married up’, his wife being the only daughter of a small samurai clan, Kamiya. The Kamiya’s where a small Edo clan of little importance, serving their lord with loyalty but not having any sort of high position. The only thing of importance to the Kamiya Clan was their invention of Kamiya Kasshin-ryū, one of the first known Gendai Budo styles to have ever existed, created by Himura’s father-in-law after seeing the death involved in the Meiji Restoration. Kamiya Kasshin-ryū still exists to this day, and is practiced by thousands around the world, and taught under its principles of self-improvement.

Descendants of the Himura line, with dozens still carrying the family name, all make the claim that Himura loathed his past as Battousai and was very vocal about how he was not that man anymore, often saying that he despised the acts of murder he performed over his time in the Isshin Shishi.

**Myths, Legends and Rumours**

Due to the mystery surrounding Battousai, there were a number of myths and legends spread throughout Japan, some of them unproven, some real and some have been proven false by the use of records, photos or even just the impossibility of them.

The main rumour about Battousai was also one of his two identifiers, a cross shaped scar on his left cheek. Due to a family portrait taken in 1878, in Yokohama, it has been proven to have had existed. Legends say that he always had it, while others state that he was marked by a demon. Reports kept by Kido Takayoshi state that both lines where cut on two separate occasions and that the first continued to split open and bleed for a number of months, often just after an assassination, the reason behind this is unknown and could be a leading factor behind why it became such a deep scar for a smooth cut.

Red hair and a crossed shaped scar is what was once commonly the only thing that was used to identify Battousai. Himura’s hair has never actually been proved to have been red, analysis of sepia photos taken of Himura have proven that it is likely that his hair was red as it was at least a lighter colour but what sort of red it was is still under contest, some think a bright red while others lean more towards an auburn. It is unknown where his bright hair come from, although modern research suggests that it came from a mutation. Himura was also thought to have light coloured eyes and pale skin, some geneticist think that he may have suffered from a form of albinism due to the inbreeding that was common in small villages, where everyone ends up interrelated. His eyes are also behind their own myth stating that they were a piercing golden amber that glowed in the low light. Due to the knowledge of his blue eyes and the impossibility of eyes changing colour, this myth has been proven false.

Circulating rumours about the Battousai grew worse in the 10 or so years after the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, people claimed that he was a giant of a man or a creature of the shadows, one claim suggests that Battousai was a creature of pure shadow. A favourite rumour about his hair was that it was dyed red from the blood of his victims. He was often used as a sort of Boogie man, parents claiming that if their children didn’t do as they said then Battousai would come and take their souls. All of these rumours and myths were made by the superstitious people of Meiji Era Japan and almost always completely false.

**Legacy**

Today Kenshin Himura is known as a key contributor to the imperialist’s victory over the Bakufu during the Bakumatsu.

The original Kamiya residence and Dojo, where Himura settled after arriving in Tokyo, still runs as the head Dojo for the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū. Tours are available of the Dojo and connecting museum that makes up a large amount of the original residence. The Kamiya Compound is one of the last old Samurai family compounds still left standing and acts the Head Quarters of their style. The museum is dedicated to the style and the family behind it, from Kamiya to Himura.

In the field between Kyoto and Osaka where the Battle of Toba-Fushimi was held, there are multiple monuments. A small one that stands in the centre of the field, made out of cast bronze, made to look like a set of swords sticking out of a hill is dedicated to those that lost their lives due to that battle. The design was taken from eye witness accounts of the Battousai’s swords sticking out of a pile of bodies in the same spot after he left.

In the Osaka castle museum exists a daisho that is thought to have been the set belonging to Battousai due to the etchings of Himura onto the sheaths. They were kept by the Takayoshi family after they were picked from the battle field by Kido Takayoshi after Toba-Fushimi.

The Kenshin Foundation, started by the Himura family and dedicated to Kenshin Himura, is a non-profit organisations founded to help the families of those that have had loved ones murdered. They supply free grief counselling for people effected by the murder of a loved one, financial aid for those that now can’t pay for funerals or small debts and programs for new widows to obtain jobs. The Kenshin Foundation also holds events for people to make new friends and create support networks with those that are going through similar tragedies

**Author's Note:**

> First things first, I tried my best and researched the shit out of this, but there still might be some incorrect information and that would be due to just rolling with what I was writing. I would also like to note that I used my own head canons that I write up in my other RuroKen story. This was also meant to be like a Wikipedia page and instead it turned into a History report. Mind you, this whole story took a month to write out, mainly because I first handwrite everything and then type it up because my brain works better when I write things out and there are like 7 pages of a first draft with notes scribbled everywhere and crossed out sections. I should post a scan of one of my pages, give someone an anxiety attack with how god awful my handwriting is.


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